“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
It is lifestyle that overcomes.
A crucified Church lives by the Spirit. A crucified Christian lives by the Spirit. A crucified Leader lives by the Spirit.
God invites us to dissolve death by partnering with Christ’s crucifixion to come alive and ablaze.
“We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.”
It is no longer ‘me first’. It is no longer to be served but to serve others. It is no longer complacency in our choices but living in the fullness of Christ and therefore victorious over sin.
“For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh,”
God is the God of redemption and resurrection.
We know and experience that death is not the end of the road. Not a place to become stuck in but the place of “beauty for ashes” exchange. A place to be debt free from sin.
“by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.”
A place where life springs up from our place in Christ. “For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”
Christ is the full spectrum of holiness.
“Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”
What has God asked of us?
To have the mind of Christ. Make the holy choice. Our ‘yes’ and ‘amen’. Our Obedience. Taking on this responsibility as our life style. That is where we encounter abundant life in all its fullness.
The place of victory over death.
Death follows disobedience modelled throughout the bible.
From that of Adam and Eve in Eden where they lose the paradise of being in God’s presence and lacking for nothing.
To the Exodus where God showed a generation the promised land as theirs to go and defeat the giants but they chose to fear and be intimidated and their disobedience led to a whole generation having to die out before the next took up the choice to enter unafraid.
Again in Acts where Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, and contrived to hold back some of the profit, grieving the Holy Spirit, both were immediately struck dead for their dishonouring of God.
Authentic living is a moment by moment choice in every day. “Your will be done not mine.”
“See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil.”
The more we put it into practice the more discerning and aligned we become. The life of Christ’s explodes from within us .
“to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.”
In death to ourselves we become a new creation living in Christ. The glorious grace of God brings us to new life.
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”
The illustration shows us alive and full of the Spirit. With light flaming from us pushing back the darkness.
Eleven Scriptures that come to mind:
“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”Galatians 2:20 ESV
“We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.”Romans 6:6 ESV
“For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh,”Romans 8:2-3 ESV
“by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.”
Colossians 2:14 ESV
“as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.”Psalm 103:12 ESV
“For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”Colossians 3:3 ESV
“Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”Philippians 2:5-8 ESV
“But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to man but to God.””Acts 5:1, 4 ESV
“to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.”Ephesians 4:22-24 ESV
““See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil.”Deuteronomy 30:15 ESV
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV
The song My God Is Still The Same. Sanctus Real
https://youtu.be/tU6UnZyq4Z8
Lessisgreater 